Natural Selection 2

I've seen several commanders use the mucous membrane ability like a marine with a pistol and I often tell them that they are probably wasting a lot of res by doing this.

However, I realized that I don't know precisely the mechanics of this ability. The ability is claimed to last 2.5 seconds (source: http://wiki.unknownworlds.com/ns2/Drifter). But it says the ability can heal a maximum of 65 armor. Does this ability stack and heal a maximum of 65 armor over 2.5 seconds per use? Or is it more of a contant rate thing for healing armor sort of how the crag functions?

Mucous membrane is insanely good. It got nerfed recently due to it being too good. It simply heals 65 armor over the 2.5 seconds. It does not stack with itself, but it does stack with other heals, so it would heal 65 armor on top of whatever heal an alien is getting from a crag, gorge, etc. Keep in mind that 65 armor is 130hp against a rifle, and 260hp against a pistol. It's the difference between a fade being able to take 2 direct shotgun blasts and 3. Don't underestimate how powerful it can be in keeping higher lifeforms alive.

Useful on higher lifeforms and coupled with packs of aliens (the more aliens, the better :D).When there's 2+ aliens in a fight, or higher lifeforms involved, it's worth it. Not to be spammed, though (I often see morons spamming Enzyme or Mucous like ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, which is a waste of res in this case).That's why we use it a lot in competitive play. It literally keeps your aliens alive.

The thing is ... as a commander, you have to know when to use your team res. Spamming mucous all the time is not always the good decision. Having a drifter following a pack of skulks and helping them while they fight is a good way to use it, but trying to assist a solo skulk that is gonna die anyway is a bad call. Build a whip instead (8 TRes loss of the drifter + 2 for the Mucous), or a crag, or a gorge egg... or save for upgrades and a second hive :)If there's a Crag Hive late game, an Onos has to be follwoed by a drifter with Mucous, and possibly Enzyme.

And yeah, as said before, it used to be even more powerful. UWE nerfed both Enzyme / Storm and Mucous Membrane because it was too OP.